Daniel Mulhall, 65, is the Irish ambassador to the U.S. He previously served as Ireland’s ambassador to Britain, Germany and Malaysia.

I think it’s safe to say that 2020 hasn’t been anyone’s idea of a good year so far. What’s been most difficult about it for you?

It’s just the lack of normal life. I haven’t stirred outside apart from walks in the vicinity. I haven’t been in the embassy for 2  _¹/2months, so that’s been a big loss. Ours is a face-to-face business. In normal times, I would have met hundreds of people during that period. And a number of those would have become people that I would have engaged with in a serious way. And so I miss those connections that I haven’t been able to make and I will never make now, because, you know, these are often happenstance.

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